Help with uploading mesh from Blender

[0athenais0]

Hello All. I hope someone out there can help me figure out a problem I'm having with Blender because it's starting to make me frustrated.

 

I am very new to creating. I have been working with Blender for the past few days and have really learned a lot. I have been creating simple objects. For instance, I made a chair and a bowl from two tutorials I watched. Problem is, when I export them as collada and upload them to SL, they NEVER look like the finished product in Blender. As an example, I followed a tutorial and created a bowl. When I upload it to SL, it looks like the shadowed area around the bowl (you can see in the screenshot I post, it looks like a trapezoid or something). Even with other objects that don't have that "shadow" in Blender, they upload distortedly.

 

For the table I created (which I know is perfect for what it is, I followed tutorial exactly), it won't even let me upload. I get a DAE parsing error. I've researched this error and everything others online suggested does not fix the problem. I was able to open the dae file in AC3D, which I am not going to use in the future, and was able to upload it from there into Second Life.... but then again the table looked distorted and seemed to be missing pieces.

 

I'm trying to keep calm and not get irritated, but I am really trying to learn this program and develop as a builder and NOTHING i create, nothing, looks as it should when I upload. I would really appreciate any help. I am completely new and not used to technical terms, so please bear with me. :matte-motes-bashful-cute-2:

 

I've attached two screenshots. First is the bowl in Blender, the other is what I get when I upload the model.

 

Thank You

[Cilene Inglewood]

Athenais - I'm new to Blender/Mesh, as well - like...the last day (LOL) and to me...the first picture is either showing a bounding box or you've created a box around the bowl...and that's what it's uploading. I'm guessing that when you upload...and look into the 'box' - you see your bowl at the bottom? Looks like you need to delete the box around it. If you use the select vertices ...then B to select the edges...delete...you should be able to get rid of it.

Are you using the default exporter for Blender or did you buy the plug in? I've heard the default exporter for collada is complete rubbish...and that to get proper export into SL, you have to use Avastar from the JASS Shop in world. It costs about $20-$30 either in world or via paypal. I'm sure if you google it, you'll find the shop on the net.

I don't know...that's just what I see off the top...from being someone who is about in the same place you are. Have you taken any classes at Builder's Brewery? That would help a lot...

[Chic Aeon]

Just wanted to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the exporter in Blender -- at least for housewares and prefab homes and such. Maybe clothes? I don't know; not my thing.

 

It takes  A WHILE to get hold of Blender. It is not a simple program. Giving it more than just a few days would be wise.

 

Also be aware that not all tutorials will give you objects that import well into SL. Some are WAY too dense.  Look for LOW POLY tutorials.    There are tons of things that you need to know with 3D modeling- LOL. A bit at a time works. If you are in a hurry this is not the program or process for ya . 

[Chic Aeon]

I can't tell much about your table but your bowl looks WAY TOO SMOOTH - LOL. If you were using a sub surface modifier and cranking that puppy up beyond 1 or 2 that could very well be your issue. Look up LOW POLY MODELING. Blender is used for MANY purposes; not all of them translate into SL.

[0athenais0]

Thank you for the advice, Cilene. I really appreciate it!

 

I don't seem to be able to delete that box around the bowl.... although I did lower the subdivision to 2 as the other person suggested. I have selected the vertices of the box and tried different ways of removing it, but it alters the shape of my bowl and distorts it. I've got a lot to learn!

 

I did visit the JASS shop inworld to purchase Avastar... it's 6500! I'll have to wait to get it, I guess.

 

Anyway, ty for your help and good luck in learning Blender!

[arton Rotaru]

Sounds like you have some sort of Lattice Modifier in your scene. I'm sure some of the Blender users will tell you how to get rid of it. Or better, applying it on export.

Personally I would recommend that you should start from scratch again. And forget about that Subsurf Modifier too, unless you are creating highpoly meshes to bake down normal maps.

Starting all over from scratch several times isn't unusual, even for more advanced modelers. Sometimes it takes a couple of attempts to get it right.

Also, like Chic said, the Blenders "out of the Box Collada exporter" is all you need. The Avastar Plugin mostly helps with Rigging/Skinning and Animations AFAIK.

[Rolig Loon]

Yes, unless you are going to be making rigged mesh clothing, you don't need Avastar or any plugins at all.  Blender will do everything.   It is NOT a simple tool to learn, though, so don't expect to be an ace pilot in a few days.  Give it a month of intense experimentation and tutorials to hammer some of the basics into your head.  Arton is right .... plan on building and then UNbuilding and rebuilding things several times.  They keep getting better.  Some of the things I built and was really proud of when I started look like 1st grade art projects now.  Some of them I have rebuilt four or five times since then, and they are finally looking pretty neat.

Your phantom polyhedron almost looks like a physics model that you made but didn't save as a separate object, so it uploaded as an extra set of faces on the basic model.  If that's what it was, you just have to remember to add the new mesh shape that you use to build that physics model in Object mode, not in Edit mode. That way it will not be connected to the basic model unless you want to Join them for some unknown reason.  You can save the models separately and then apply the physics model as you upload them together.

[Gaia Clary]

First of all: The Blender Default exporter is not complete rubish. It is completely working for Second Life purposes. If there is anything wrong with the default exporter, then please report this to blender. Any report related to Second Life dificulties will be seen and resolved (if possible). However i haven't heard any complains since at least a year.

Then Second: You do not need to get Avastar for making content for SL. Blender can do all of this on its own. You might consider to use Avastar only when it comes to rigged mesh. Then this tool is just a huge time saver. Should you ever step into rigged mesh making, then there is still the Avatar Workbench (which is a simple blend file) that you can get for free and which will help you to start.

Now to the issue:

You have created this object with 10 Faces and you used a Subdivision modifier to smooth it. You have set subdivision to 6, and you have kept the modifier in its default settings, which means: It shows you your original model (the low poly pyramid) plus the resulting model (the high poly ghost object in the middle of the pyramid) that shows you how the model will look after the modifier gets applied.

Now your model has 10 faces. The subdivision modifier subdivides each of the model faces into 4 subfaces with each level of subdivision. So your final model ends up with

4*4*4*4*4*4*10 = 40960 faces = 81920 Triangles

However, you say that in SL you still see the pyramid, and not the bowl. This indicates that you did not export with the "apply modifiers" option. You find this option in the Exporter's export options panel. There you also find 2 Operator presets specially made for Second Life. For your Bowl you would need to use the Preset Export for SL/OpenSim static or Export for OpenSim rigged depending which version of Blender you have (the label has changed a bit over time, but the function has kept as it is)

If you do not know where to find the export panel, then please check here:

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Data_System/Files/Import/COLLADA

Some remarks

Warning: If you try to import this bowl with the subdivision modifier applied, then you will create a monster object which probably will give you a surprising high land impact. Actually your bowl is an extreme example for a high polygon object .

Tip: use smooth shading (in the tool shelf) instead of flat shading. Then your model starts looking smooth with much less subdivisions.

Tip: Add some more details into the model to form your bowl. This will also help to reduce the final amount of faces in your exported object.

Tip: Find some decent tutorials about how to create "low poly objets" for game engines. This is what you need to learn first besides how to master Blender. (really, i am not kidding)

[Drongle McMahon]

Your object is a simple model with ten faces, to which you have applied the sundirf modifier with six steps of subdivision in the view (only 2 for rendering). What you see in Edit mode in the 3D view is the vertices and edges of the mesh before the modifier is applied, with a superimposed surface of what it will be like after it is applied. You can change how the modifier is shown by ucing the small icons in the middle at the top of its panel You should play with these to see what they do. The camera comtrols whether it is applied during a render; the eye, whether it is applied at all in the 3D view; the one with four vertices on a cobe, whether it is applied to the model surface; and the triangle, whether the edit-mode vertices are shown in their modified or original positions.

I think you then you have exported the model without choosing the SL-specific options in the "Operator Presets" selector. Unless you do that, or explicitly check the "Apply modifiers" checkbox, the mesh will be exported in its unmodified form, which is the trapezium-shaped thig you see in SL. Alternatively, you can apply the modifier in Blender before exporting, by clicking the "Apply" button in the modifier panel. That will only work in Object mode.

The number of subdivision stels applied by the exporter, and by the Apply button, will be the number set for View, not for Render. Note that each step of subdivision you apply will multiply number of faces by four. So six steps will multiply by 4096. Your bowl has 40960 faces, which becomes 81920 triangles. This is FAR too many for a bowl. In fact it's more that the 21844 maximum triangles that you can use (per material) before you run into a wierd bug. This will give it a needlessly very high land impact.

My guess is that you have used so much subdivision to make it look smooth. This is never the way to make things smooth for SL. Instead, you need to use smooth shading (eg: select all;  Mesh->Faces->Shade smooth), and a model with a far smaller number of faces. There are ways of making just some of the edges sharp (eg: see Mesh->Edges->Edge split, or the Edge split modifier).

By the way, to see what the model will look like in SL, you should turn on "Backface culling" in the "Shading section of the "Properties" panel on the right of the 3D view. Otherwise you see both sides of the mesh faces in the 3D view, while in SL you only see one side (the side the normal sticks out of). In this case, doing that will remove the "shadowing" effect you can see, because that is caused by bthe visibiloity of the back faces.

This is an unusual way of making a bowl. It does have the advantage of being all quads, but it might be difficult to UV map and texture. It might be easier if you started with a cylinder, or a UV sphere with the top half removed. The other thing that can help is the Solidify modifier, which can make the inside.

ETA: ie. what Gaia said :matte-motes-smile:

[Drongle McMahon]

Here's just one way (not the best) of making a bowl. Edit more at top, Object mode at bottom. Backface culling on.

Default cylinder with triangle-fan ends. (squashed in Z a bit); Set shading to smooth and use Loop Cut & Slide button to subdivide vertically; Remove the central vertex at the top (and thus the top face); Select the bottom loop and shrink, with proportional editing on (sharp falloff); Select all faces and do Mesh->Faces->Solidify (set thickness to 0.05); Add two edge loops (highlighted), using Loop Cut & Slide, to correct nasty smooth shading at top edge. (UV mapping? - that's a whole other game!)